The new old tradition of Hogwarts
by Saeshmea
Summary: "First, the students of each house will vote for a teacher to be auction in name of their house, then, the auction will take place, and the students and heads of houses will bid for every teacher, and the best of all is that there will be no money involved, we will be bidding house points," AD (...and the auctioned teachers will become the slaves of the other house for six days.)
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, places or any other stuff you can recognize from the HP series, they came out, as we all know, from the great mind of JKRowling. The rest is mine._

_A/N: I don't remember if there's any other HP fic like this... I know there are about other series, I've write a couple myself I think... I just came out with the idea of how Dumbledore finds this fun tradition (I know, that's only first lines) and I thought, why not, let's write it... so here I am, beginning another fanfic that I can't tell when I'll finish it. I just hope you have fun reading it... mostly the next part than this... _

_As always (when I remember to do so), I apologize in advance for my many many many grammar mistakes and my (I hope not as many) spelling mistakes. You already know that I am no native and that I could write these fics in a perfect Spanish but then it wouldn't be the same... I wouldn't not feel comfortable, I wouldn't have the chance to share opinions with my favourite fanfic writers and most of you wouldn't be able to enjoy them... but you also know that any appreciation is welcome._

_Have a good reading ;-) _

* * *

**The new old tradition of Hogwarts - Introduction**

It was the thousandth anniversary of the Howgarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and its Headmaster wanted to make a big party with funny games that everybody would enjoy. He had been searching among the dozens of books about the foundation of the school new facts or curiosities to tell his students in order to make them pay interest to such a joyful festivity. Somehow it ended on his hands the diary of anyone else but Helga Hufflepuff, reading it, the former headmaster of Hogwarts found the greatest idea for a new tradition for the school.

* * *

"Does anyone else know why he has asked us to come again, for the third time this damn month?" Rolanda asked.  
"Like if you had anything better to do..." Pomona replied.  
"He's just preparing the celebrations for the school's anniversary and he wants it to be perfect..." Minerva commented.  
"Don't defend him..." Rolanda talked again right when the doors were opened and Albus Dumbledore came inside.  
"Good evening my dear friends," he said "I'm sure you wonder why I have called you with such short time... Don't worry, you'll find out right now..." he said with the excitement of a little boy on his voice.  
"We're not really that curious..." Rolanda mocked with her sharpening tone.  
"Oh, I'm sure you'll all like it..." Albus said, "As you all know in two weeks we'll celebrate the thousandth anniversary of this our dear school, and I've been looking for the best way to honor our founders for months, well... I've finally found it..."  
"I thought we were going to make a ball, like on Christmas..." Pomona said.  
"That's right, and we will, the last day of the celebrations, which will last for thirteen days, one day for every month that took building the entire castle with magic," he said.  
"Ok, thanks for the class on history, what about this greatest idea of yours?" Rolanda insisted.  
"It's actually not my idea... I found it in Helga Hufflepuff's diary..." and he gazed Pomona as he said the name of the founder of her house. "During those first years of the school she came out with an idea to collect money for the school... one day every beginning of term they would auction the the teachers of the school for a few days in exchange of money. Doesn't it sound exciting?" Albus asked to his staff who were all watching at him speechless.  
"It's a joke, right?" Rolanda was the first to cut the silence.  
"Albus this is crazy, we're not in the Middle Age anymore and the school doesn't need money..." Minerva pointed out.  
"You are right, that's why I have modified Helga's idea..."  
"Oh, Merlin..." somebody heard Severus cursing.  
"Ok, so, listen carefully:  
- First, the students of each house will vote for a teacher to be auction in name of their house,  
- then, the auction will take place, and the students and heads of houses will bid for every teacher,  
- and the best of all is that there wil be no money involved, we will be bidding house points;  
Isn't it exciting?" he asked when he had finished, but everybody stayed with the same face.  
"Let's see if I understood..." Rolanda said, "the students of, let's say, Revenclaw, will vote for a teacher of the entire school to auction on their name,"  
"Right," Dumbledore replied.  
"Ok, let's say the choose Filius. The rest of the houses will have to offer their house points to buy him?"  
"That's exactly it, Rolanda..."  
"And what will happen after that, I mean... let's say Slytherin wins Filius in the auction... what does Filius has to do?" Pomona asked, concerned.  
"Well... he'll be the property of the entire Slytherin house for as long as the festivities last... he'll do whatever the head of the house asks him to, he'll help the students with whatever they want... I don't know, we'll let them be creative..."  
"How much creative?" Minerva wondered really concerned, "I don't think you have really thought it through..."  
"Ok... they'll be able to suggest anything as long as nobody gets hurt."  
"Don't count on Gryffindor for this," Minerva said.  
"When did I say this was a vote...?" Albus said, "We are doing this because I think it will be fun, that's it."  
"Oh, for merlin's sake, Albus, you don't really expect us to because the students slaves for almost two weeks, do you?"  
"Not just the students, also the heads of houses, Minerva..." Severus pointed out with his usual irony.  
"Ok, let's negotiate the time, then... ten days." Dumbledore eased.  
"24 hours" was Minerva's offer.  
"That's too short, a week"  
"Two days," Rolanda suggested.  
"A week," Dumbledore repeated.  
"Four days," Filius dared to talk.  
"Alright, six days, that's the shorter amount of time you'll get..."  
Everybody sighted and accepted, like if they had another chance.  
"Dumbledore, this is the craziest idea you've ever had." Minerva said when she stood up to leave.  
"It wasn't mine, it was Helga Hufflepuff..." Dumbledore insisted.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I know this isn't a great story, nor an original one... but I have fun writing it and I hope you enjoy reading it, too. ;-)**

The new old tradition of Hogwarts - 2

The celebrations of the school anniversary began without incidents on March 1st with an exquisite breakfast and the entire day free of classes.  
"We'll have to make up for a lot of hours after these two weeks... Albus has really gone too far with this anniversary..." professor McGonagall pointed out to her colleagues in the teachers lounge while she was checking her schedule.  
"I am not willing to lose my free time... I told my students which lessons were supposed to be told so they can look at them on their own in the textbook." professor Snape said, raising his eyes from the book he was reading.  
"That's not fair to them," professor Sprout took part on the argument, "what if they don't understand something? I don't want my children to be treated like that..."  
"They are not children anymore, Pomona, they are boys and girls old enough to find the answers to their doubts in the library by their own..." Madam Hooch gave support to Snape's point.  
"It's still not fair, it's Albus fault they're missing these classes, not theirs..." McGonagall replied.  
"It is, I told them I would teach them as usual if they wanted but nobody agreed." Snape defended himself.  
"Of course not," the transfiguration and herbology teachers exclaimed at the same time; the first one keeping a serious tone and the other laughing out loud.  
"They are not that silly," Hooch let go right when Flitwick came in.  
"What is so funny?" he asked.  
"Nothing... we were just sharing points of views." McGonagall said glancing at Snape.  
"What took you so long, my dear? There are no classes today..." Sprout asked as she served her husband a cup of tea.  
"I was talking to my students about the auction, I want them to make the right decision so we get a lot of house points and win the house cup at last..." he said.  
"Isn't that cheating, I thought we couldn't influence in their votes..." McGonagall pointed.  
"You are always so fond to justice and fairness, Minerva..." Snape said with a smirk on his lips.  
"Don't tell me you haven't talked to your students at all, Minerva..." Flitwick said after sipping his tea.  
"I have only expressed to them my opinion about how vulgar and humiliating this game seems to me and told them they are not forced to participate on it either..."  
"You go nowhere being polite to these salvages teenagers, you need to be more... convincing." Snape talked again, suddenly more interested on the conversation than on his book.  
"Oh, tell me, then, professor, what strategy have you followed?" McGonagall used a more ironic tone this time.  
"I have flatly forbidden any Slytherin to participate on the voting, specially to introduce my name in the box."  
"That's not fair play, all of us would do the same, then," Sprout took part, this time, very upset.  
"Don't worry, Pomona, I am sure you won't be elected to represent Hufflepuff." Hooch replied giggling.  
"How can you be so sure of that?" her friend asked.  
"Because your students may not be very intelligent, but they are not stupid and they know they wouldn't get too many points out of you..." the flying teacher responded finishing his sentence with a loud laugh that the others shared but tried to hide.

* * *

.

* * *

The so eagerly awaited auction took place that same evening at the main hall. The students of each house occupied their seats and their heads stood in front of each table in representation. Dumbledore walked a few steps forwards the rest of the staff, who were standing in line where the teachers table should be, and began to talk.  
"My dear students and friends, during these two weeks we won't be only celebrating the creation of this our school but also paying tribute to all the young boys and girls who once sat on the same place you are, and to all the wise men and women who teached them..." he said with solemnity, "and in order to do this properly, we are going to have lots of fun!" he exclaimed, suddenly changing to a more sympathetic voice and causing the room to burst in applauses and whoops of joy. "You have already voted for those teachers who will represent each house in the auction that is about to begin; let's read their names."  
The students began to murmur in conspiracy while their teachers felt the fear and nervousness of listening their names out loud. The headmaster made the table where the four crystal boxes (one for each house) were come on it's own and with a move of his wand the voting papers inside organized themselves by names. Inside the Hufflepuff box there was one tall pile of papers, and two others with maybe a vote or two each; Ravenclaw had two piles almost equally divided; Gryffindor showed the same situation as them, and Slytherin had one only pile of votes with a very few papers on it.  
"Alright, let's begin with Hufflepuff," Dumbledore said taking the paper on top of the larger pile, "The house of Hufflepuff has voted for..." he unfolded the paper slowly leaving a while of tension before saying the name written: "Madam Hooch."  
The headmaster made a stop to let the whispers and giggles calm down and invited Madam Hooch to stand at his left side as he continued with the auction. "The house of Ravenclaw has voted for professor..." and once again, after a short silence he said the name "McGonagall."  
A few steps ahead from him, standing in front the large Gryffindor table, giving the back to all her students, Minerva looked at her headmaster and then at the professor on her right. Flitwick tried to avoid her emerald killing look, like if he had had nothing to do with the choice of his students.  
"Come on, Minerva, join us up here..." Dumbledore said as he took the paper on top of the larger pile in the box of his deputy's house. "Participating in name of the house of Gryffindor house will be..." he said while Minerva came up unwillingly, "...professor McGonagall again," he giggled as some students from Ravenclaw smirked at their lions colleagues.  
"Well..." the headmaster said looking at his deputy headmistress, "since we obviously can't divide professor McGonagall in two, we'll read the name of the second pile..." he grabbed the first paper of the slightly shorter pile of votes and said, "participating in name of Gryffindor will be... professor Flitwick."  
McGonagall couldn't help it but sending a smile of victory to his colleague as he came up with them.  
"And the last one," the Headmaster kept going, "The house of Slytherin, which seems to haven't cared at all about our new tradition, with its very few votes has chosen... professor... Snape to represent it."  
To that announcement followed a lot of whispers, some laughs and a threatening look to the students behind him from the potions master who refused to walk up on the stage.  
"Come on, Severus, it's just a game..." Dumbledore said, and ignoring the face of his employee he made the table disappear, "Let's begin the auction!" he exclaimed with the enthusiasm of a child. "professors, you all can go back to your place except from you, Rolanda... we'll start with Hufflepuff."  
Once everybody was ready the Headmaster continued the game.  
"Your heads of house will be your spokesperson, they'll bid as many points as you tell them and they'll give up whenever you ask them... now, be responsible and have fun..." after that, he looked at Hooch as if checking if she was ready and then continued, "The bid begins with 10 points," he said.  
Professor Flitwick looked back at his students to know their intentions, McGongall cared much less but tried to participate also listening to the suggestions of the young boys and girls on the table, Snape, upset for having been betrayed by his own house, stood there in silence ignoring the noise behind him.  
"Ten points from Gryffindor," McGonagall finally said receiving an smile from Hooch.  
"We offer twenty," Flitwick replied.  
"Twenty-five," the lions house raised.  
"Thirty."  
"Thirty-five," McGonagall raised again following her students instructions.  
"We could really use some extra flying training, professor," Flitwick was told from one of the students of his house.  
"Yes, please, keep biting," they said.  
"Alright," Flitwick agreed, "Fifty points." he shouted.  
"Fifty points from Ravenclaw," Dumbledore repeated.  
Minerva turned around to look at her students.  
"Fifty points are too much for some extra flying classes..." somebody said.  
"Yes, we don't need them so much... we rather get Snape" a third year said causing the boys around him to laugh.  
"We are done, then..." Minerva confirmed.  
"Well done, professor Hooch will serve to the House of Ravenclaw for 50 house points that go to Hufflepuff." Dumbledore said.  
The house of professor Sprout celebrated the rise of the sand in their hourglass applauding and hugging each other as professor Hooch politely shook hands with Flitwick before going back to her place behind the Headmaster.  
"Alright, if I am not wrong it's the turn for Gryffindor now, so... professor Flitwick please, if you could join me..." as he waited for the short man to come up he kept talking, "the rules will be the same, only that obviously Ravenclaw won't be able to bit this time because it's their own head of house we'll be auctioning..." he giggled and continued. "Let's start at 10 points as before," he said.  
One more time, professor snape ignored what was happening around as professor McGonagall talked to her students.  
"We give 10," Sprout said with her usual happy tone of voice.  
"20," McGonagall raised although her students weren't too interested and she knew Pomona would bit as much as it was necessary to have her husband with her during the entire week.  
"35!" the herbology teacher said.  
"35 says Hufflepuff," Dumbledore repeated, "anyone gives more? Slytherin, maybe..." he turned to the silence table on his right but nobody react. "Alright, then... professor Flitwick goes to Hufflepuff for 35 points that Gryffindor receives." He gave time to everybody to celebrate and calm down. "Since they are so quiet, the next house will be Slytherin..." Dumbledore looked at Severus who reluctantly joined him. "We'll start with ten points."  
The three heads of the other houses were listening carefully to their students demands.  
"Having Snape at our service could be fun..." a Hufflepuff student said.  
"We could ask him to teach us those potions he never let us make in class..." a Ravenclaw girl suggested.  
"He hates us," a Gryffindor boy pointed out.  
"He gave us lots of homework for these two weeks," another one said.  
"If we bid for him you won't need to do extra homework because he could teach you the classes you'll be missing..." McGonagall suggested.  
"Could we do that?" someone asked.  
"Of course, Dumbledore said you can do as you wish with the teach you bid for as long as nobody gets hurt..." Minerva said, and after her word left her mouth she realized maybe she was giving bad ideas to her students.

"We'll give ten," Flitwick said.  
"I give twenty," Sprout raised.  
"Fifty," Gryffindor bid hard.  
Both Flitwick and Sprout looked at Minerva but they wouldn't give up easily.  
"Fifty-five," Hufflepuff offered.  
"Seventy from Ravenclaw."  
Minerva looked at her students again... those were a lot of house points to lose for nothing, but they seemed willing to do it so...  
"A hundred points," she said.  
"A hundred!" Pomona Sprout exclaimed, "We can't bid so much!"  
"That's not my fault," Minerva pointed.  
"We can," Flitwick said, "a hundred and ten."  
"Don't make me laugh," Minerva said, "a hundred thirty..." and she smirked because Ravenclaw only had a hundred and fifty points and she was sure they would give everything so easily.  
"A hundred and thirty points from Gryffindor," Dumbledore repeated, "if any other house raises the bid..." he said looking at the other two heads, "Alright then... professor Snape goes to Gryffindor for a hundred and thirty points that Slytherin receives happily, I guess..."  
The students of Gryffindor celebrated their acquisition as the Slytherins celebrated their more that secured house cup with those sudden points. Meanwhile, in the middle of the celebration, professor Snape came down the stage as McGonagall came up for her time to be auctioned and they stopped in the middle of the way to shake hands.  
"I guess you'll be making up for the lost classes after all..." she said with a victorious smile on her lips.  
"Don't be so happy..." was everything Snape said.  
"Let's keep going," Dumbledore said smiling after everybody was sitting down and quiet again "our last teacher to be auctioned is our dear professor McGonagall... we start with ten points."  
"Fifty," Snape's voice was finally heard out loud in the room.  
"Did I hear right? Slytherin offers fifty points on the first bid!"  
Minerva looked at the potions master, he had been quiet for the entire evening not caring at all about that game, now he was moved by vengeance and he wasn't even listening to his students requests. She imagined being at the Slytherin dungeons for an entire week and she couldn't even think of what those kids would be capable of making her do... so she searched for help at the other side of the room. She found Pomona's eyes and she begged for mercy.  
"Hufflepuff offers sixty points," the small woman said ignoring the complaints of her children since those were all the points she could afford.  
"A hundred," Snape let his voice be heard again.  
Minerva looked again at her dear friend, but she couldn't help anymore...  
"Professor McGonagall goes to Slytherin for a hundred points that Ravenclaw receives."  
The entire Ravenclaw table exploded in happiness while the Gryffindor and Slytherin students sended bad looks and a few bad words to one and other.

TO BE CONTINUED...


End file.
